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Andrew Gordon’s Teemu Selanne connection.

Andrew Gordon’s first-period goal accounted for all the offense in the Ducks’ 6-1 loss to the Sharks on Wednesday night. Gordon, the former Washington Capitals prospect who signed a two-year contract in the off-season, elicited a positive reaction from Randy Carlyle after an otherwise dreary game for the Ducks.

“I thought that Gordon made an impression. I thought that he was, again, a player that showed the determination and the fire that he showed right from the start of camp to impress some people,” the coach said.

Here’s something you probably didn’t know about Gordon.
The first NHL game he ever attended was on March 28, 1993 in Winnipeg. The Jets were hosting the Los Angeles Kings and a seven-year-old Gordon held on to every detail of that night — literally and figuratively.

“It was a mid-afternoon game,” he recalled. “They broadcast it back to Finland. When you
walked in the door, they handed you little Finnish flags with (Teemu Selanne’s) face
on the back. Teppo Numminen was playing at the same time. I had this
little keepsake we had forever from that game.”

Then a 22-year-old rookie, Selanne had scored nine goals in his last six games to reach 68 for the season. That was already 15 more than Mike Bossy’s rookie record of 53, but Selanne wasn’t done. He scored two more goals that night — numbers 69 and 70 — en route to an incomparable 76-goal season. The Kings and Jets tied, 3-3.

“It was a cool way to introduce myself to the league,” Gordon said. “From then on,
Teemu was my favorite player growing up. When I first realized what the
NHL was, he was scoring a million goals that year.”

Gordon and Selanne are teammates now, which is why Gordon said he hasn’t been gushing about his first hockey memory to the 41-year-old Flash.

Still, Gordon had to feel like a fan again when Selanne announced seven days ago that he would return for a 19th NHL season. Before his first game, Gordon said, “my dad told me to watch Gretzky and I kept watching Teemu.”

About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.